Apparatus for bleaching furniture

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus is utilized for bleaching furniture through the use of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. The furniture to be bleached is placed on a conveyer which passes through an air lock structure into an ammonia chamber. Ammonia is delivered to the ammonia chamber and causes the bleaching of the furniture. The bleached furniture component is removed from the ammonia chamber through an air lock structure.

United States Patent Baymiller 3,708,889 Jan. 9, 1973 APPARATUS FORBLEACHING FURNITURE Inventor: John W. Baymlller, Lancaster, Pa.

Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, Pa.

Dec. 28, 1970 Assignee:

Filed:

Appl. No.:

US. Cl. ..34/83, 34/218, 34/242 Int. Cl. ..B27k 5/02, F26b 19/00 Fieldof Search ..34/32, 72, 83, 218, 242;

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1956 steigerwaldui ..ll8/49X5/1960 Skarin Primary Examiner-Frederick L. Matteson AssistantExaminer-l-1arry B. Ramey Attorney-Clifford B. Price ABSTRACT A methodand apparatus is utilized for bleaching furniture through the use ofhydrogen peroxide and ammonia. The furniture to be bleached is placed ona conveyer which passes through an air lock structure into an ammoniachamber. Ammonia is delivered to the ammonia chamber and causes thebleaching of the furniture. The bleached furniture component is removedfrom the ammonia chamber through an air lock structure.

1 Claim, 1 Drawing Figure PAIENTEDJMI 9 I975 3. 708,889

-. INVENTOR JOHN W- BAYMILLER ATTORNEY APPARATUS FOR BLEACHING FURNITUREBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention isdirected to a bleaching apparatus and, more particularly, to a apparatusfor bleaching furniture by means of hot ammonia gas acting as a catalyston the hydrogen peroxide.

2. Description of the Prior Art Ammonia has been used in the past as ableaching catalyst. However, it is not normal practice in the fumitureindustry to use ammonia for bleaching due to the inherent hazards in theuse of ammonia.

The use of air locks for the purpose of transmitting an item from onearea to another so as to isolate the two areas is a feature which is oldin a number of arts.

However, the prior art lacks the specific teaching of the novelcombination of elements which now permit the utilization of ammonia forbleaching of furniture components.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention herein is a apparatus for thehydrogen peroxide and ammonia treatment of wood components for furnitureto bleach the same. A conveyer structure moves in a circular pathwayfrom outside of the ammonia treating unit to the inside of the ammoniatreating unit. Furniture components are loaded on a carrier carried bythe conveyer structure. The carrier and furniture component passesthrough one vapor-tight door structure into a vapor-tight chamber whichis an air lock. The carrier and furniture component then passes into theammonia chamber where ammonia will cause the bleaching of the furniturewhich has been coated with hydrogen peroxide. The ammonia may be placedin the ammonia chamber in the form of aqueous ammonia or vaporized dryammonia gas. After the prescribed time for bleaching has occurred, thefumiture component then passes out of the ammonia chamber into a secondair lock, and from the second air lock back to the original startingposition where the bleached component is removed from the carrier and anew component is placed on the carrier for bleaching.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The drawing is a schematic view of theapparatus for carrying out the invention herein.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The bleaching apparatuscomprises an oval conveyor structure 2 which is used to transport thefurniture component through the bleaching apparatus. A carrier structure4 is mounted on the conveyor structure, and this carrier will carry thefurniture component 6 which is to be bleached by the hydrogen peroxideand ammonia. The conveyor structure is intermittent in operation and maybe any conventional type of intermittent conveyor structure. A furniturecomponent is loaded onto the conveyor at position A. Operation of theconveyor carries the carrier 4 and furniture component 6 into the airlock B. The air lock B has an entrance door 8 and an exit door 10. Thedoors are conventional vapor-tight door structures and open on aprescribed sequence of operation. When door 10 is closed, door 8 willopen and permit the carrier and furniture component to move into theairlock B. Due to the presence of some residual ammonia gas in air lockB, an exhaust system 12 is located adjacent door 8 so that the openingof door 8 does not necessarily mean that ammonia gas can escape out intothe area A. The exhaust system 12 tends to pull the ammonia gas from thevicinity of the door 8 so that there is actually a flow of air from areaA to B rather than from area B to A. Once the carrier and furniturecomponent are within air lock B, the door 8 is closed.

Only after door 8 is closed can door 10 open. Door 10 is opened and thecarrier and furniture component may now move into the ammonia bleachingchamber C. Once the carrier and furniture component are within thechamber C, the door 10 will close. It is through the opening of door 10that some ammonia gas can move into area B, and that is why the exhaustsystem 12 must be utilized to prevent this ammonia from escaping outinto area A. The furniture component stays in the ammonia treating areaC the required period of time. When this period is done, door 14 opens,and the carrier and bleached furniture component may now move into airlock D. When door 14 is opened, door 16 is closed. Once the carrier andfurniture component are in air lock D, door 14 will close. In themeanwhile, another carrier and furniture component has entered theammonia chamber C from air lock B. With the door 14 closed, door 16 cannow be opened to permit-the carrier and bleached furniture component tomove back out to area A. At this point, the carrier will be offloadedand a new unbleached furniture component placed thereupon. An exhaustsystem 18 is used in a manner like exhaust system 12 to prevent escapeof ammonia gas from air lock D into area A.

The door structures 8, 10, 14 and 16 are vapor-tight and are similar tothose set forth in US. Pat. No. 3,363,324 or any other like typestructures. Particular success has been secured with corrugated metaldoors which operate like conventional garage doors. The conveyorstructure is a simple intermittent conveyor structure which need onlyhave a flat surface upon which furniture components may be positionedfor movement into the ammonia chamber C. The door structures arecoordinated in their operation so that areas B and D may function as airlocks.

The ammonia being supplied to the ammonia bleaching area C may be in theform of dry gaseous ammonia. The ammonia is supplied in liquid form andis passed through a vaporizer which is nothing more than a steam-heatedjacketed tube. The liquid ammonia is converted to a'gas, and the gas isfed through appropriate pressure reducing and control structures so thatthe required amount of dry gaseous ammonia is supplied to the chamber Cby passageway 22. When dry gaseous ammonia is utilized, the chamber isheated to l-200 F. by a separate heat source and the ammoniaconcentration is 3-5 percent.

It is also possible to use aqueous ammonia. Aqueous ammonia is storedwithout pressure. It is pumped to a spray distributor structure 20 wherethe ammonia in liquid form is sprayed out into the passageway 22.Incoming heated air passes along the passageway 22 by the distributinghead 20 and propels the atomized ammonia spray into chamber C. Thetemperature within the chamber is maintained at l80200 F., and theammonia concentration is 3-5 percent. The furniture componentis kept inthe chamber C for 3 to 5 minutes when dry gaseous ammonia is utilizedand for 3 to 5 minutes when aqueous ammonia is utilized under the aboveconditions.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for bleaching furniture components comprising anintermittently operated conveyor structure means which is capable ofconveying furniture components through an endless pathway, a first airlock means having an entrance door and an exit door, said doorstructures being so constructed and arranged that only one door may beopened at a time, said conveyor structure means conveying furniturecomponents through the open entrance door into the first air lock means,said conveyor structure means then conveying the furniture componentsthrough the exit door once the entrance door is closed, said conveyorstructure means carrying the furniture component through the exit doorinto an ammonia treating chamber wherein a spray distributor means isprovided to inject aqueous ammonia into the ammonia chamber, a secondairlock means at the exit of the ammonia treatment chamber,

said second air lock means having an entrance door

